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CASE OF SPASM OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 247 
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a light weight) says he found his horse a good deal blown , and 
he fell with him, an accident which he supposes gave him time 
to recover his wind a little, for after that he went on very well 
again to the end of the chace. Our young sportsman could not 
fail to see that his horse was a good deal distressed; but he does 
not appear to have been at all aware that he was so beat, until 
on his way homewards some one remarked it, and called his 
attention to the state of the animal. He then stopped awhile 
at a house on the road, gave some meal and w ater, and pro¬ 
ceeded ; but he found his horse, instead of recovering, getting- 
worse all,the way. He managed, however, to reach Dublin a 
little after six o'clock, and immediately called upon me for my 
assistance. When I first saw the animal, his breathing and atti¬ 
tude indicated the greatest distress. The prominent symptom, 
however, was a convulsive motion, or jerking of the whole body, 
accompanied with a dull thumping noise, audible at several 
yards distance, and evidently proceeding from his inside: the 
beats appeared to be about 40 a minute. On placing my hand 
over the heart, the action of that organ could be felt but very 
indistinctly—the beating evidently came from behind the heart, 
and w as most plainly to be felt in the direction of the diaphragm. 
Again placing my hand upon the abdominal muscles, the jerks 
appeared to come from before backwards. The impression on 
my mind, therefore, w as, that this w r as a spasmodic affection of 
the diaphragm, brought on by violent distress of breathing. 
There was no pulsation to be felt at the submaxillary artery; 
and judging from that circumstance that any attempt to bleed at 
this time would be useless, I ordered stimulants to be given. 
We first administered 3iij aether nit. in a bottle of warm water; 
but this producing no good effect, shortly after w e gave 3ij sub¬ 
carbon. ammonia m a ball,allowing the patient at the same time 
plenty of white water to drink. About a quarter of an hour 
afterwards he broke out into a most profuse perspiration, which 
continued two hours or more. The breathing became more tran¬ 
quil, but Jthe formidable symptom, the convulsive motion of the 
diaphragm, still kept up without any abatement. After the sweat¬ 
ing had ceased, however, 1 found the pulse more perceptible, 
and the action of the heart more distinct; and this I considered 
to be the proper time to bleed, a measure which was put in 
execution about eleven o'clock at night. The blood ran freely 
enough in a continued stream; but it looked darker than usual. 
On standing, it appeared flabby, and threw out a great quantity 
of serum. When about ten pounds had been extracted, I thought 
both the beating and breathing seemed to increase: I then left 
off*, and shut my patient up for the night. In the morning, at 
